Regardless of Frontiers: The First Amendment and the Exchange of Ideas Across Borders
A CBP surveillance tower sits over the banks of the Rio Grande, behind a 3-mile section of fencing built by We Build The Wall in South Texas. Photo by Colter Thomas.

Event

Regardless of Frontiers: The First Amendment and the Exchange of Ideas Across Borders

A symposium and exhibition exploring the international border as a venue, justification, or pretext for censorship or surveillance

Riverside Church and online

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On October 18, 2024, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University will convene scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and activists for a symposium about surveillance and censorship and the changing role of the international border.

Today, the U.S. government uses its authority over the border to justify the surveillance of social media, the interrogation of travelers about their political and religious views, the warrantless search of travelers’ laptops and cellphones, the imposition of limits on Americans’ right to engage with foreign speakers and to access foreign communications platforms, and the suspension of the constitutional rules that would ordinarily apply to the surveillance of Americans’ emails and telephone calls. Panelists will consider these practices and their implications from a range of perspectives, including theoretical, doctrinal, historical, and empirical.

“Regardless of Frontiers” will also feature a photo exhibition entitled “Infrastructures of Control,” by Colter Thomas and Dugan Meyer. Through a series of photographs, the exhibit aims to create a visual archive of security and surveillance infrastructure in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. An opening reception will be held on the evening of October 17 at Riverside Church.

The symposium will take place at Riverside Church and online. RSVP for updates and more information.

Event Materials

Knight Institute Symposium on the Exchange of Ideas Across Borders to Feature Prominent Scholars and Immigration Advocates

Call for Participation: "Regardless of Frontiers: The First Amendment and the Exchange of Ideas Across Borders"

Schedule

  • Riverside Church

    490 Riverside Dr, New York, NY 10027

    Photography Exhibition and Reception

    “Infrastructures of Control” 

    Photographers

    • Colter Thomas, Harvard University
    • Dugan Meyer, University of Arizona

  • Riverside Church and Online

    490 Riverside Dr, New York, NY 10027

    Welcome

    • Jameel Jaffer, Knight First Amendment Institute

    Panel 1: The First Amendment Rights of Non-Citizens

    The questions of whether and how the Constitution should be understood to protect the expressive and associational rights of non-citizens inside the United States are bound up with questions about sovereignty, collective self-determination, and the purpose of the First Amendment.  What First Amendment rights should non-citizens be understood to have, and what rights do they actually enjoy? What legal frameworks do we need to ensure that the expressive and associational rights of non-citizens in the United States are respected?

    Speakers

    • Ahilan Arulanantham, UCLA Law
    • Cristian Farias, Inquest
    • Genevieve Lakier, University of Chicago Law
    • Alina Das, NYU Law
      • Presenting paper: Protecting the First Amendment Rights of Non-Citizens

    Moderator

    • Elora Mukherjee, Columbia Law School

    Break

    Panel 2: Foreign Speech, National Security, and the First Amendment

    Governments including our own routinely limit the exchange of information across borders in the name of national security. When, if ever, should national security be viewed as a legitimate justification for restricting cross-border speech, and what legal frameworks do we need to limit the risk that national security is used as a pretext for restricting speech that is important to democracy? How are restrictions that are said to be necessary to protect national security shaping or distorting public discourse in the United States today?

    Speakers

    • Anna Diakun, Knight First Amendment Institute
    • Evelyn Douek, Stanford Law School 
      • Presenting paper: Material Support Laws’ Long Online Shadow
    • Noah Chauvin, Widener University
      • Presenting paper: Foreign Influence and First Amendment Values

    Moderator

    • Ramya Krishnan, Knight First Amendment Institute

    Lunch Break

    Lunch will be provided.

    Keynote Address

    • Katherine Maher, NPR

    Panel 3: Surveillance at and Across Borders

    It’s well understood that surveillance can operate as “soft censorship,” deterring individuals from engaging in expressive and associational activities that are nominally protected by law. In recent years powerful new surveillance technology has enabled both government and private actors to monitor, intimidate, and persecute journalists, human rights advocates, political dissidents, and ordinary citizens. What constraints do we need to impose on government and private surveillance, or on the sale and distribution of surveillance technology, in order to protect expressive and associational freedoms? How does First Amendment doctrine need to evolve to address the challenges presented by new forms of surveillance?

    Speakers

    • Ashley Gorski, ACLU
    • Ron Deibert, Citizen Lab 
      • Presenting paper: Silenced by Surveillance: The Impacts of Digital Transnational Repression on Journalists, Human Rights Defenders, and Dissidents (co-author: Siena Anstis)
    • Jaya Ramji-Nogales, Temple Law School & Nicole Ramos, Al Otro Lado
      • Presenting paper: Surveilling Border Activists

    Moderator

    • Alex Abdo, Knight First Amendment Institute

    Break

    Panel 4: Protecting the Right To Receive Ideas from Abroad 

    Many contemporary political debates stem from the perception that speech from abroad—that is, “foreign speech”—poses a danger to the Republic. These concerns are used to justify government regulation and intervention that would be unconstitutional in most other contexts. While there are, of course, real attempts by foreign nations to meddle in U.S. elections and influence public discourse, routinely characterizing foreign speech as a threat overlooks the ways in which it can contribute to First Amendment values, like fostering a marketplace of ideas, facilitating democratic self-government, and supporting individual autonomy of thought. How should courts weigh these benefits against concerns about foreign influence when reviewing restrictions on speech? What lessons can be drawn from historical and contemporary battles over Americans’ right to receive information and ideas from abroad?

    Speakers

    • Chinmayi Arun, Yale Information Society Project 
      • Presenting paper: Accessing Ernie Bot’s Avatars
    • Xiangnong (George) Wang, Knight First Amendment Institute
      • Presenting paper: Listeners’ Rights in the Time of Foreign Propaganda: The Story of Lamont v. Postmaster General 
    • Sam Lebovic, George Mason University
      • Presenting paper: Do Americans Have a Right to Know About the World?

    Moderator

    • Katy Glenn Bass, Knight First Amendment Institute

    Closing Remarks

Speakers

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